Cotswold councillor is ‘losing patience’ over ambulance wait times
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson says response times in rural areas need improving.
The councillor for Chedworth and Churn valley, Paul Hodgkinson, says he is losing his patience over ambulance response times.
Health chiefs were questioned at a health overview and scrutiny committee meeting earlier this week about what they would do to make improvements.
Councillor Hodgkinson told the committee how his area in Northleach has the worst response time in Gloucestershire with a 22 minute wait time for a category 1 incident, the target time for this category is 8 minutes.
He says he gets frequent concerns raised to him by the people he represents.
He said: “I represent a lot of people and I think I and they deserve to know that if they fall very seriously ill or if there is an emergency that an ambulance will come in quick time”
“It does emphasise the extreme pressures on the health service”
Councillor Hodgkinson says he plans to meet with the South Western Ambulance Service to discuss what can be done to improve the situation.
A joint statement from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Gloucestershire reads;
“We are working together as one across health and care to ensure that the journey in and out of hospital is as smooth as it can be, and we are grateful for the positive and supportive approach taken by many community partners.
We acknowledge that some patients are still waiting longer than any of us would like, and we are absolutely committed to making further improvements, ensuring patients receive high-quality, timely care.
A whole raft of measures have been put in place to improve ambulance response times, handover arrangements and support people to leave hospital when safe to do so with ongoing care support if needed.
It’s this spirit of partnership working that will ensure further progress is made, acknowledging that many of the challenges facing ambulance services can only be overcome by working together and are a shared responsibility.
We would like to thank our fantastic frontline health and care teams across Gloucestershire who continue to work tirelessly to support service users every day under significant pressure.”